Gabriel could not sleep that night.
No matter how hard he tried.
The room was quiet.
Comfortable.
Luxurious.
Yet something about it felt painfully empty.
He stood near the large window staring into the darkness outside while rain slid slowly down the glass.
The city lights stretched endlessly below him.
Familiar.
Cold.
And somewhere inside that endless city…
Naomi and Leon were gone.
The thought unsettled him more than it should have.
Gabriel pressed a hand against his forehead tiredly.
Ever since the little boy left the room earlier…
something inside him refused to settle.
“You were my father.”
The words replayed over and over inside his mind.
Not logically.
Emotionally.
And worse?
The pain in his chest each time he remembered Leon crying felt terrifyingly real.
Why?
If he truly didn’t know them…
why did losing them suddenly feel unbearable?
Gabriel closed his eyes tightly.
And immediately—
another flash hit him.
Warm laughter.
Firelight.
A woman’s voice whispering softly beside him.
Then—
mud.
Rain.
Darkness.
Gabriel gasped sharply and opened his eyes again.
His breathing uneven now.
Fragments.
Only fragments.
Nothing clear enough to understand.
Yet enough to hurt.
Across the city, Naomi sat awake beside another tiny rented room window.
Not luxurious this time.
Not beautiful.
Just small.
Simple.
Temporary.
Leon finally slept after crying himself into exhaustion.
Curled tightly beneath a blanket too thin for the cold.
Naomi stared at him silently for a long time.
Then toward the darkness outside.
She should have felt relieved.
Gabriel was alive.
Safe.
Home.
Everything she prayed for had finally happened.
So why did it feel like she had buried him instead?
Naomi pressed trembling fingers against her mouth as tears slipped quietly down her cheeks again.
Because the truth...